Prime Originator

Crawford Empire, Grassland Region

Leon, Aria, and Darlene stepped out from the Teleportation Array's spatial rift before they found themselves within an enclosed room of a building located on World Tree's crown.

Swish~!

A sudden breeze made its way inside the room and softly brushed against Leon. It was the World Tree's spirit sending him a greeting.

'Have you been well?' Leon communicated with his divine will.

World Tree's spirit responded to Leon's question by making the wind dance around his body with joy.

'I see. That's good,' Leon smiled.

After a short chat with the World Tree's spirit, Leon left the building with Aria and Darlene. The moment they made it outside, they immediately felt the abundance of spirit energy.

"Wow!" Darlene and Aria gasped with surprise and amazement.

"I've never smelled such a refreshing and invigorating air before!" Darlene breathed in the fresh air and exclaimed, "This place is practically Heaven!"

"Leon, this is incredible! I expected the spirit energy density to be high, but this density level has completely exceeded my expectation!" Aria mentioned shortly after.

"You're right, Aria," Leon nodded with mild astonishment.

"The spirit energy density around the World Tree is comparable to some of the lesser spirit-rich areas in the Divine Realm. Even spirit stones have started forming around the World Tree's crown."

Aria and Darlene glanced around before spotting multiple grain-size green pebbles lying around. Then, Aria quickly went over to pick one up and study its quality.

"Amazing, this purity is on par with supreme-grade spirit stones. However, it's too small. At most, this spirit stone will be treated as a mid-grade spirit stone in the Divine Realm," Aria remarked

Shortly after, Aria furrowed her brows with confusion.

"It's a bit strange, though. Of course, world Trees are miraculous existences. But this spirit energy output is a bit too impressive, don't you think so, Leon? I expected it would take a full year for spirit stones to form. However, it only took a month or two," Aria mentioned.

After all, it was still a newborn World Tree. Yet, its spirit energy output is comparable to million-year-old World Trees.

"This is a bit strange," Leon wore a contemplating look before adding, "But if we think about it

"How so?" Aria wondered curiously.

"World Trees don't just produce spirit energy from nothing; it feeds on sunlight to grow," Leon began to explain.

"However, plants require a specific range of sunlight intensity to grow on any planet, to begin with. Usually, it's also the same range for ordinary human habitat as well. But the World Tree has transcended from being an ordinary plant."

"Thus, most plants have to undergo mutation to adapt to the current cataclysmic sunlight intensity. On the other hand, the World Tree absorbs it all to produce more spirit energy without an issue." Leon stated.

"In other words, the present situation of the sun allows the World Tree to function at its full potential while most World Trees don't get this opportunity," Aria summarized her understanding.

"Exactly," Leon nodded.

Shortly after, he shot a glance towards a certain direction. Then, a few guards finally approached them before they saluted, "We welcome you back, Your Highness!"

"At ease," Leon calmly gestured.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" the guards replied.

Nevertheless, Leon could not help but evaluate the guards' strengths. The three guards standing before him were all Metal Transcendents.

The New Capital didn't just undergo rapid developments. Even the strength of the people improved by leaps and bounds.

It was to be expected, given the spirit energy density of the region.

Even so, Leon was surprised that the number of Transcendent Awakeners in the empire had risen by a lot. His parents didn't sparingly save the Transcendent Crystals the empire obtained from the underground mines.

Leon quickly felt something amiss.

Given normal circumstances, everyone should have improved their body and energy cultivation. After all, Leon did hand over several cultivation methods to his father before he left the Human Domain.

However, the people improved their awakening cultivation instead.

"Had there been any significant events in the past four weeks?" Leon inquired.

"Yes, Your Highness!" one of the Transcendent-level guards nodded and said, "A few weeks ago, the empire was attacked by a berserk group of Transcendents from the Geyser Kingdom."

"They slaughter innocent lives from the empire's borders all the way to the World Tree. It could have turned ugly, but fortunately, they angered the World Tree and killed themselves. Even so, we realize just how lacking we were in comparison to the Geyser Kingdom after that incident."

"Thus, since then, His Majesty had been handing out Transcendent Crystals to everyone regardless of our contributions to increase our strength," the Transcendent-level guard explained.

Afterward, the guard slowly recounted the subsequent events that followed after the incident, including the Geyser Kingdom's Law-Punishing Force, the envoys, and as well as their strengths.

The guard mentioned everything without leaving out the details. After Leon heard everything, he clenched his fist tightly.

He couldn't imagine how devastated he would feel if Baron Cortez and his men had killed his family and loved ones during his absence.

Furthermore, he learned that this Baron Cortez was related to the last two Transcendents from the Geyser Kingdom that he killed.

The guilt might have crushed his heart if his actions had caused everyone's death.

Now that Leon had returned to the Crawford Empire, he did not intend to leave until he strengthened the empire to a level that would ease his worries.

"Where are my father and mother now?" Leon inquired.

"His Majesty has settled in his new palace in New Capital. It shouldn't be difficult for you to find out where that is, Your Highness. The New Palace stands out quite a bit from the other buildings in New Capital," another guard answered.

"I see," Leon calmly nodded before inquiring further, "And my mother?"

"Her Majesty left to look for Lady Lynne in Extreme Misty Forest two weeks ago and hasn't returned since, Your Highness," the guard informed.

"What?" Leon's brows knitted into a frown.